The Biggest Mistake I’ve Made Installing Laminate Flooring

My First Laminate Flooring Installation

Back in early 2003 I installed my first ever Laminate Floor. Before this I never did it before. I worked in a lot of new construction houses. I was installing mostly carpet an Vinyl Flooring. Occasionally, I would see another installer on the job site installing a Laminate Floor.

I seen the type of tools and supplies that were needed to get the job done and I really wanted to give this a try some day. I opened my own Flooring Store in early 2003 and we really wanted to offer Laminate Flooring. I finally got the opportunity to take on my first Laminate Installation Project.

If you are having troubles with your installation and you need HELP, become a member of Laminate University and I will be there for you every step of the way!

Whether it is through my videos or direct access to me through email, facebook or by phone, YOUR CHOICE!

We designated an area in the store to display our Laminate Flooring and that was where we wanted to also have a display floor, which would show off one of the brands of our Laminate. How hard could it be, I’ve seen it done and everyone says how easy it is to install.

We installed the Laminate, which did go pretty smoothly. Then we had the transitions to put on (these are what are used to separate two different floors or it would be used where the flooring would end) . This is where it really got ugly. We were installing over a concrete slab and I never installed one of these transitions before.

It got ugly quick

We used Liquid Nails which is a construction adhesive and we got it everywhere. I used way too much and when it squirted out it became a mess fast. I cleaned it up and that about an hour and a gallon of Mineral Spirits later (OK, maybe not a gallon but it was a lot).

Another problem I was having is I couldn’t get the transitions to stay down, they kept popping up and I didn’t know what to do. I finally found some things around the store to put on top of the transitions to hold them down. Finally, I was done!

The Floor bubbled up

About a week later I noticed the floor was starting to bubble up. It looked like the Rocky Mountains running across my showroom. I thought this Laminate Flooring was junk. I had customers coming in the store looking for Laminate Flooring and they would walk over to my display area .

Immediately they would see the huge mountains on the floor and of course they would ask “what is going on here?”. It was obvious I had to fix the problem and quick. No one was going buy Laminate Flooring from me and they certainly wouldn’t want me to install it!

After the store closed that night I got to work. I moved all the displays out of the way and began to take the floor out. I ripped the floor out because I was convinced it was junk. I got to the very end and then it hit me . My heart sunk to my stomach and my stomach hit the floor.

Admitting my mistake

I realized at that moment I was the problem. You see, I didn’t leave a gap along the wall and when I put those Transitions on, I stuck them tight to flooring and all that extra Liquid Nails squirted under the laminate Flooring and glued the Laminate to the concrete.

The Laminate had absolutely no room to expand! That is why I had the huge mountains in the floor. The result was-I wrecked the floor when I took it up. I could have just moved it away from the wall, but I thought the Laminate Flooring was junk. Because the transitions were glued they were destroyed. The whole thing ended up costing me a lot of money.

It’s been about ten years since that happened and I’ve installed thousands of square feet of Laminate Flooring since then. I look back at that and I can’t help but to laugh. I’ve been able to come up with different methods that I use to make this a lot easier and the results much better.

Installing Laminate Flooring can be easy if you have the resources to learn from. It still can be difficult, it really depends on how the layout of the room is. Sure a square room can be easy, but when a hallway gets added on to that it can be a lot more difficult unless you have the resources that can guide you through. There are some methods that I use that will really help guide you through this process.

Back in 2003 there wasn’t the resources to learn from like there is now, at least I didn’t know about them. If you wanted to learn how to install Laminate Flooring, you needed to attend a work shop, learn from another installer or just jump into it.

How to avoid making this mistake and other mistakes

Now, we can go on the internet to do research and find videos, articles, blogs and forums that give us advice. Although this can be overwhelming because-

It can be a long process to find the right answers

There is a lot out there to sift through

A lot of it is just plain junk

It can be hard to understand

I have put together Videos, Guides, Project Planners and several Checklists to help guide you through the process. I have really tried to keep this information Relevant, Easy to understand and of course it’s all in one place. Just check out Laminate University.

If you have any mistakes that you have made and you want to share them with all of us go to the comments below and get to it. All your comments are welcome.

If you have any questions you can contact me at Joe@sothatshowyoudothat.com or go to the contact me page.

Thanks for reading,

Joe

God bless you!

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40 Comments

Jamie L Newell
on March 24, 2018 at 2:20 pm

We have just laid laminate floor and i didnt want transition pieces i wanted it to flow so problem is now one piece goin to kitchen is one way and tongue and groove is other way to kitchen can we still lock pieces in that way in opposite direction? If that makes sense.

We are installing Coretec Plus XL laminate flooring thru living, dining and kitchen. Living and dining are carpet but kitchen and halls are 12 x 12 tile. Can we put a foam barrier over the area that in living, dining area that are now to concrete slab to make up the difference from concrete up to tile. If we start to remove the tile it is damaging the concrete floors.

No. I can help you through this and so you can get the tile up easily and do it the right way. If this is the way you want to go then sign up for laminate university and we can get started. Here is a link

We have installed 8mm laminate flooring in our 2800 square for house. The largest room of the house is 50 ft long. We flowed the floors into the hallways and bedrooms so they are all in the same direction. Our house sits on stilts and our subfloor was very uneven, up to 1 1/2in difference since part of it was replaced. In order to account for the change in floor level we used thinset and gradually sloped it down. After laying the undelayment we laid the floors. While we could feel a few minor changes in some of the areas we sloped, it’ was a huge improvement. The floors looked great, but 2-3 weeks after, parts of the floor have started bowing up in some places. The bounce is significant in these spots. While I don’t think it has anything to do with the sloping we created, I do believe that with the warmer weather , the floors have expanded and we not only did not leave a small gap at the ends, we also nailed all the ends down into the subfloor and sporadically throughout. We are now in the process of using a punch to punch down the nails and an oscillating saw to cut the edges for a little breathing room. Is there anything else we should do?!? The areas we have done that to have improved but they’re not back to 100% flat. Any advice would help to resolve the nightmare we ourselves created. Thanks for your expertise.

I have snap together laminate. I’ll snap together the long edge, but when I try to tap the short edges together with the prior row, it won’t budge. If I tap (with rubber hammer and tap plate) too hard (and I have) it damages the end. This is supposed to be an easy install and I’m frustrated. Any ideas?

Kurt,
I can sure feel your pain on this and I can sure help you through this! I have a few videos that will show you how to overcome this and get you through your installation. These videos are located inside Laminate University. As a member you will have access to all my videos and I will be there to walk you through any problems you might have, whether it’s through facebook, email or on the phone(you decide which of these are best for you). I will post a link below so you can get started and get to that video that will show you how to do this or we can chat on the phone and walk you through this. You can also share some pics or video of your planks and show me what is going on.

I am installing laminate flooring in a room that was previously carpeted. It adjoins an entryway which is a different laminate. As I was putting the floor down, I discovered the transition between the two rooms did not have enough room underneath to fit the new laminate. I will need to replace that transition will another that is flat. What is the best way to remove this transition without damaging the existing laminate floor?

I want to install laminate in my entire one story house except for bathrooms. I have thin sheet vinyl in the kitchen and carpet (which will be torn out) over wood sub flooring in the rest of the house. We have a basement, if that matters. Since the vinyl is thin, do I have to do any thing special where the kitchen transitions into the living room and dining room? On one side it is a doorway but a large opening (10 Ft. maybe) on the other side. I would like to have a seamless transition without reducer molding if I can. Thy vinyl is in good condition and is not coming up.
Thank you.

I’m preparing to lay a laminate floor. But have very little space to put furniture during installation. So I was hoping to move the furniture to one side of the room, then install the laminate flooring up to that area and then move the furniture onto the newly installed portion and then finish the room. But got to thinking if this will work since the laminate flooring floats. What do you think?

Hi joe,
Watched your videos many times prior to and during installing the laminate floor. They were very helpful. After the install completed, I found I need to redo the first row because I cut the opening for heat a 1/4 in too large and the diffuser won’t cover the gap. Is there any problems I may encounter when I redo the first row in reverse or it should be pretty straight forward when I take the first row out and recut and put it back in reverse? Thank you very much

We are looking to have a laminate floor installed but the company says they can’t do the treads on the staircase. Yet, I’ve seen instructions online saying it can be done. Is it correct that it can’t be installed on the stairs?

I am installing reducers in a large room opening. The opening is about 8inches wider than the reducer is long. I will be needing to use part of a second reducer. Should the seam of the 2 reducers be right in the center in the room opening, or should it be as close to a wall as possible?

Hello Joe, I had my laminate flooring installed to transition to ceramic tile and the tranistion pieces were glued down and they keep popping up.. I went back to the dealer and they showed me a piece of tbar(?) that has a metal strip to it that should be screwed to the cement base floor…There is a space about 1/2 inch between the tile and the laminate….. will that be enough room to put the strip down or will he need to take up the pieces and cat them to make it fit… I paid a lot of money for this floor and I feel discouraged. Please help me

I like to have a 3/4 gap when I’m using the track. You don’t need to remove the laminate to do this. Just draw a line on the floor with a marker and the use an oscillating saw to cut it. Marker comes right off the floor with denatured alcohol.

I am installing alaminate floor in my hallway. The problem is that on one side is a wall on the other is a 1×6 laying on the floor with balusters attached . I can’t leave a gap on the baluster side but will on the wall side. Is that sufficient?

I have a few bubbles in my year old Laminate floor (all at the seams). I have been doing a little reading. I am checking the walls tonight. If I make a little space (if needed) should the bubbles fix themselves?
If all spacing looks well could this be from water at all?
Is there any other way to fix bubbles at the seams?

Nicole, these bubbles could be caused by a few different things. It could be moisture and it could be that the floor is to tight along the walls. Is it possible that you can take a few pics of the floor so I can see what these bubbles look like? You can post them on my facebook page and I will get back to you right away!

Hi
I just had a read of your comments and wonder if you can advise me, My daughter laid a laminate floor about a year ago in her lounge and by instruction given by experts, Firstly she lives in a old house 1930ish and so it has the standard floorboards, the problem is just recently it started to bow up a good 1″ thinking this was the problem they checked all round the edges and the gap seems ok, tonight in a state of panic they decided to lift the laminate to find that the original 1930s floorboards have bowed and as we moved the heavy furniture we could see other boards raising along the length, there is a very strong musty smell and either damp spores or mould on the boards, this never happen when carpet was down, forgot to mention that a high quality underlay was used between the floorboards and laminate, question is….have they made the floorboards to air tight as not to let the boards breathe and release and moisture…. any help gratefully received
Fred

Is the laminate installed on the main floor? If it is and the basement has high moisture that is what is causing the problem. They need to run a dehumidifier in the basement. It didn’t have problems before because the subfloor could breathe with the carpet and now the moisture has no where to escape. I do think that dehumidifiers will solve the problem but unfortunately if there’s mold and mildew you will probably have to remove the laminate. Then dry out the floor and replace and bad boards. You could then use kilz to paint the floor and relay the laminate. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Kim,
the cause of that is most likely the floor is not flat. Over time the laminate will form to the floor, but if it is severe than the only thing you could to to fix it would be to pull the laminate up and flatten the floor.